That seems to be the hot topic these days. Some say stick to the ones you participate in daily while others say you need to diversify and thus the more the better. My daily dose includes twitter, facebook, digg and I’ve recently added utterli.com to that mix. The first social network that I joined way back was myspace but I rarely venture over there because I feel weird when I do. I’m hearing the same thing about myspace from alot of people these days. The lightning fast rise of facebook as the must visit social network has had a major effect on how people view myspace and I don’t see that changing anytime. I’ve found Google.com’s reader to be a great tool to manage all the blogs I read along with all the new content that hits Digg and the other social network sites that I follow religiously. I plan on adding to my daily list of sites in the very near future. On that note if there’s a must read site that you feel I need to include in my daily diet please mention it in the comments section belong. Happy social network surfing to all.

Yesterday’s news that the BCS championship will be available in 80-100 theaters for the game on January 8th is great news for college football fans. That news follows the success of the Raiders and Chargers test that drew great reviews from those who watched it in Los Angeles, Boston and New York earlier this month. The question is how much are people willing to pay to watch a game at the move theater when they can just as easily stay at home? Reports have tickets for the BCS championship going for between $18 to #22 which seem like a logical starting point. It’s of my opinion that going north of $30 a ticket would be on the high end. If there’s a way to settle on the $18 to $22 range people will pay for it if the technical issues are kept to a minimum. The question moving forward is how quick will the other sports be to adapt to what will inevitably will the future of sports on the big screen.

With the current state of the economy companies are having to reconfigure their marketing and advertising budgets/strategies for 2009 and beyond. Social media is one way to generate a great ROI in today’s economic climate and companies like Comcast, Zappos.com and Southwest Airlines are leading the way with their use of the micro blogging site Twitter.com to offer better customer service to consumers. Zappos.com has gone so far as to incorporate it as a part of their company culture. Those are just some of the few companies who have been quick to adapt to social media. As an outsider looking in companies in the insurance, law, financial, healthcare and construction sectors will be the slowest to adapt because they won’t see the benefit right off. One can only hope those industries see what the businesses I mentioned before are doing right to connect with their customers on a personal level and succeed in the new business economy.

Since we’re in the holiday season I thought now was as good a time as any to express what I’m thankful for. The first thing I’m thankful for is my family. My family has always been there for me when I’ve needed them and are a constant in my life. The second thing I’m thankful for is my friends. My friends are also there when needed and are a great sounding board when called upon. The third thing I’m thankful for is my health. If you don’t have your health then you’re in trouble. The fourth thing I’m thankful for is God. God is what makes everything possible. I will add to the list in time, but that’s the list at the moment. Cheers for now.

Those new to twitter looking for some quantifiable stats on what the top five words that you’re using and what time of day you do the most tweeting need to look no further that tweetstats.com. I checked the site out for the first time on Monday not having a clue what the top five words are that I’ve been tweeting since I joined twitter. After a quick query thanks to tweet cloud which is a function of tweetstats my top five words were ad, thx, vu, good and great which I found interesting. Tweetstats also offers other cool graphs that break down your tweet replies, tweet density and tweet trends which displays stats across the entire twitter network. Thanks to tweetstats I now know what a twoosh is which is a 140-character tweet. The next step for me is to add my tweet cloud to my blog. Once I do that I’ll really be emmersed in tweet land. Until then here’s a quick shout out to Damon Cortesi the guy behind tweetstats.com.

Twitter is the it social networking tool right now because it lets you connect and follow great minds like Chris Brogan, Guy Kawasaki and Jeremiah Owyang just to name a few. News today that blog software company Six Part bought micro blogging site Pownce makes that statement even more relevant that Twitter is the big fish in a small pond. I’ve been tweeting for about a month now and so far I’ve learned that you have to have a purpose whether it’s to build a brand or market a business no matter the size. People like Brogan are innovators in Social Media circles because they get it and allow others to follow them as they advise businesses of all sizes on the benefits of social media and their value. In today’s economy if you want to be smart about marketing your business or service using twitter as a resource is a good place to start.